


Piece By Piece

by ssbfan4ever



Series: Gay Gay Poly Rangers~ (AKA Five Dorks Loving Each Other) [1]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, I have such a soft spot for Zack and Jason together, M/M, Mentions of Poly, Mentions of canon character death, Mentions of other romantic relationships in the group, Multi, Polyamory, Self-Doubt, mentions of OT5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssbfan4ever/pseuds/ssbfan4ever
Summary: It was hard, for Jason. Unfathomably impossible. But he had to go through it anyway. He wanted to make Rita pay for all the pain she caused his teammates, but first and foremost, checking in on Zack.





	Piece By Piece

**Author's Note:**

> This movie gave me so many fucking feels and I'm letting them all out.

Wheezing, gasping, choking.

Beautiful pale skin turning to an eerie grey.

Cracks nearing those lips Jason came to love.

He wanted to choke the woman--no, the  _monster_ trying to take Zack away from them, just to make Billy cave. He wanted to snap the ropes keeping him away from the Black Ranger, and choke his attacker out with it, but he  _couldn't_. He wasn't strong enough to save Zack, or protect his team, or get the attention off of Billy, he couldn't do anything but watch as Zack was being ripped away from him and--

"Jay?" Jason barely heard the worried voice over his own panicked breathing, but he  _did_ feel the hand running through his hair to calm him down, and slowly, the soft voice fully calmed him down. "Hey, Jay, what happened?"

Jason listened down the hall to see if his parents had arisen due to his nightmare, but came up empty.

"You know, the night Billy died, my heart took quite the beating." Zack furrowed his brows, because of course it did, Billy had died because he didn't want his teammates dead, but bringing it up now didn't make that much sense.

"I know, Jase, but..."

"Not for the reason you're thinking." Jason's blue eyes shifted to Zack's face; over his lips, to the beauty spots near his Cupid's bow, to those kind,  _kind_ eyes that can be filled with wild excitement at any given moment, and that soft, ebony hair that Jason will card his fingers through when they're alone--not that he's ashamed of his minor fixation with Zack's hair, but his teammates always make sure they have their fair share of the leader. "I... Billy died, but that was different. It didn't hurt less, not at all, but it just hurt...  _differently_. With Billy, I felt my heart just drop to floor and I went numb and it was so fucking awful, but with you... I had to watch you suffer, I had to watch you almost  _die_ , 'n I couldn't do a fuckin' thing about it, Zack, I just had to watch you hurt you like that and you looked like you were in so much  _pain_ \--"

"Jason." Jason stopped his rambling, and Zack had to hook a finger under Jason's chin to make him look back up. "We were all powerless out there, Jay. None of you could stop Rita from hurting me or... or  _killing_ Billy. You shouldn't blame yourself."

"I'm the leader, Zack, I have to make sure you guys stay okay." Zack smiled as he shifted to lie on top of Jason.

"And we, as your teammates, need to make sure you don't go around putting yourself in danger to protect us." Jason grumbled a disagreement, but didn't make any further argument. "If it helps, I wasn't that scared when it was happening... Or, I wasn't scared for  _me_. I was scared that I'd die, and my mom--" Zack's voice cracked, and Jason raised a comforting hand to stroke the tears away with his thumb. "My mom would be all alone, she'd-she'd have no one to give her her meds, or make sure she eats."

"You wouldn't be worried about us?" Jason asked, tone light and teasing, but the response, a bitter laugh, dark and hollow, made Jason pull back and look at his boyfriend.

"You guys would be more than fine without me. Trini has enough crazy for all of us, Kim has the skill set in fighting, Billy has the brains, and you're the courageous leader we need."

"Zachary Taylor." Jason said firmly--not angrily, never angrily. He could never blame Zack for having self doubt; he's only human. But he's also not letting one of his love feel like he isn't interesting enough or lovable enough. "You are more than enough for us to miss you when we aren't together, let alone if we never saw you again. Yeah, you're a little on the crazy side, but that's what I loved about you when I met you."

"The fact that I dented the roof of the van with my beautiful ass?" Zack teased, voice still a little shaky.

~

 _Jason's heart was racing really fast; he had three people he just met in the same vehicle as him--the vehicle he was supposed to have for a few hours,_ Billy _\--and now they were trying to run away from the mine security. The one with the yellow shirt around her waist, "Crazy Girl" as she'd been dubbed by the boy they lost, kept looking at Kimberly. Normally, he'd look more into that, but something landed on the roof of the van before he could._

_"HEY!" Jason looked at the window to his left, shocked that the second stranger he met that evening had made it to this point. "HEY!" He shouted again, and the ex-quarterback had no choice but to open the door for him. When he grabbed Zack, he felt an electric current pass through for a second, but blamed it on the adrenaline._

_"Are you crazy!?" Jason asked, looking at the black haired boy like he was the sole reason they were even in this mess. It was almost as if the yelling going on between Trini, Kim, and Billy was background noise for a second_

_"Yeah, I am." He said, and Jason felt really crazy for letting his heart flutter like that. But dammit, he had such a boyish smile on his face when he said it, and such a light in his eyes that, hey, even if the van is damaged, he got to see the type of person Zack could be._

_Crazy, reckless, a little rude, but fun-loving and adventurous._

~

Now that he thought back on it, there was so much love and silliness hidden beneath the layers of self confidence and antics Zack forged over the years. He'd always wondered if it was a coping mechanism for his predicament with his mom, but decided against it. Zack saw Jason as his support, his boyfriend, not his shrink.

"Jay, you're thinking too hard." Jason looked up at Zack with soft eyes.

"Sorry, Zack. I'm back." Zack shifted around so his legs bracketed the Red Ranger's hips, resting his head on the other's chest.

"Good, I want my pillow to do his job." Jason laughed softly, circling arms around his boyfriend.

"And do his job he shall." He felt Zack smile brightly, and knew that days like these were what made his day, even though the others couldn't be there at the moment.

If Zack fell apart, Jason and the team would be there to pick up the pieces, and vice versa.


End file.
